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Pretty tough to just pick 3 from each decade(and I'll assume you have your reasons for excluding the 60s, 90s and 00s). This required me to set up some ground rules to winnow the field to a manageable size.

Basically, for a band or solo artist to qualify for my list I had to like them as much at the end of the decade as I did at the beginning(sayonara Stones and Pink Floyd), or whenever it was I first heard them...and it had to be a period of 5 years or more. That eliminated any flash in the pans, or bands that were hot for an album or two, then petered out(I'm looking at you T. Rex). Of course, that meant that bands whose best years straddled the decades, like most first-wave punk bands, Van Halen, Elvis Costello or My Bloody Valentine, didn't make the cut for either the 70s or 80s. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Another criteria was that not only did they have to have put out great albums, but they also had to be great live. And I have to enjoy their music as much today as I did back then.